The Ultralight Trike Odyssey, Top to Bottom
Day Two – Waking up to nasty looking stratocumulus.
The squadron of trikes flew from Carson City, Nevada to Lee Vining, California with smooth air in the morning as expected, and thermal bumps typical of the high desert later in the day. We all were elated that the trip was going so well and felt lucky with the weather. Day 2 was different.
We woke to a nasty looking sky. It was completely clouded over and we could only see the bottoms of the clouds showing light to dark areas, with all types of cumulus looking clouds just after sun rise. With the sky completely covered layered and cumulus looking clouds all around, this would be defined as. If I was at my local airport and observed this type of cloud cover, I would probably not be very enthused to fly.
After our pilots meeting we decided to go for it because there was a glimmer of sunlight in the direction where we were going and there was not much surface wind to contend with. The groups bump tolerance was high from yesterday afternoon. We decided to fly without the students (dual) since it looked like challenging skies and we did not want to give up our performance on this challenging leg. The students had no problem staying on the ground with the threatening sky.
The wind was light and variable on the runway and we lifted off. As expected, it was bumpy requiring constant attention as we headed south. We initially planned to fly around the Mono craters but with the bumpy air we were anxious to make time to our next stop of Bishop, California.
To our amazement, the further south we got the clouds started lifting and the air smoothed out. Just below Mammoth we found broken stratus clouds and Gerry Charlebois talked us all into flying right to the high Sierras.
An important part of any trip is clear communication between all pilots on some chat frequency you can discus the different alternatives, and the group leader make the final decision about changes in the flight plan. Gerry’s recommendation was followed and we headed straight towards the high Sierras with the peaks of the mountains topping 14,000 feet. The clouds above the peaks were alto stratus clouds indicating minimum vertical air movement. The GPS was reading light and variable horizontal winds. We were rewarded with smooth air and our first high sierra mountain flying. From our long climb to13,000 feet, we all started a gradual descent to the Bishop airport.
Meeting our ground crew in Bishop, and refueling, we headed directly towards the mountains. The clouds were clearing and we were back to enjoying the high mountains. We decided to land in Independence to fuel up so we would have enough fuel to make an attempt on Mount Whitney at 14,418. Leaving Independence Airport, the noon heat providing thermals to help us climb up to Mount Whitney for the “Top” of our trip.
After landing in Lone Pine and a big lunch, we took some locals up and spent some quality time with the students flying in the forgiving evening air.
Go to Day Three – Top to Bottom.
Pictures
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Taking of to the north in the threatening sky. |
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Over the Mono Craters looking back North towards Mono Lake as we exit the area and head south towards Mammoth. |
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Headed from the desert to the high Sierras for the first time. |
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Fueling up at the Bishop Airport and doing some minor maintenance. |
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Exiting the Bishop airport to the high Sierras. |
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Looking out from the high sierras to the Owens Valley Desert. |
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Scoping out the Independence air strip to enter the pattern (not a sole was in site). |
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Mount Whitney – "The Top", The highest mountain in the Continental United States, 14,418. |
